A precompressed sealing tape is known from EP 1 131 525 A, which consists of an elastically recoverable foam strip of rectangular cross section, which, when in the compressed state, is completely surrounded by a wrapping, which is formed by a sheet of plastic. The plastic sheet is adhered to itself to form a tear-off tab extending in the longitudinal direction of the sealing tape thus creating a predetermined tear-off line. To hold the foam strip inside the pocket formed in this way, the bottom surface of the strip is adhered to the wrapping, and the wrapping for its own part can be adhered by its bottom surface to a frame section by the use of separate adhesive means such as double-sided adhesive tape.
Sealing tapes of this type are adhered to the frame section to be sealed, and after the frame section has been installed in an opening in the wall of a building, the wrapping is torn open to allow the foam strip to return elastically to its original shape, which thus seals off the frame section against the building wall. The disadvantage of these known sealing tapes, however, is that they can be produced only in relatively small widths, because otherwise, as a result of the restoring force of the precompressed sealing tape, an oval-to-round shape is produced inside the wrapping, which is unsuitable for installation. As a result of the continuously increasing requirements on the quality of sealing in buildings, however, it is desirable to provide precompressed sealing tapes in any desired width in order to achieve higher sealing values, better thermal insulation, and better sound-damping properties.
Sealing tapes which consist of a combination of a flexible foam strip and a plastic sheet are known from EP 1 936 246 A and EP 1 936 247 A. These sealing tapes lead to better sealing properties as a result of the definable position of the plastic sheet in the installed state. Sealing tapes of this type, however, are not suitable for deep joints.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,204,373 discloses a sealing tape which consists of a flat base strip, which is to be adhered to a frame section, and a foam strip on top of the base strip. The foam strip is covered by a sheet of paper or plastic, which is adhered to the flat base strip and holds the foam strip in the compressed state. Ripcord threads extend along the edge of the cover sheet, by the use of which the sheet can be torn open after the frame section provided with the sealing tape has been installed in the building structure.
WO 98/45565 A describes a sealing strip of foam, which is surrounded by a wrapper. A stiff layer of cardboard or plastic can also be provided in the wrapper. When the sheet-like wrapper is opened, the foam strip expands slightly in the joint to be sealed, into which it has been loosely inserted.
These embodiments suffer from the disadvantage that the stiff layer remaining in the joint does not meet the higher modern demands on thermal insulation and high sealing values, and thus the overall sealing element is unsuitable for long-term use. In addition, a very large amount of material is consumed in the case of deep joints.